Monday, August 23, 2010

Dreaded Sewing Chores

There are certain sewing chores that we all avoid if we can. Some people avoid buttonholes, others hate gathering. I myself hate to fill bobbins. It just seems like such a waste of time when I'd really rather be sewing. They always run out of thread right when I am in the middle of sewing, happily cruising along in a state of flow. Then the Pfaff little bobbin low light comes on and the machine nags at me and stops everything. I swear, Mrs. Pfaff here is like sewing with a mother-in-law. A German dominatrix mother-in-law. When I do everything right, she purrs along nicely, but let that bobbin run low, or leave the needle in the too low position and WHAM, I'm in trouble.
I have a pair of blue linen pants to finish- except for the bobbin thread I could finish today. But that means that I have to set up the bobbin winder and wind it. Not exactly like chopping wood or working on the chain gang, but I resent having to do it. I want to be finished! I don't want to stop everything to fulfill Mrs. Pfaff's unreasonable thread demands!
It's funny. I don't mind ironing, or gathering or any other dreaded sewing task. I don't even mind cutting things out. (I like to see how little fabric I can use, so that's always a fun challenge.) But I hate winding bobbins.
What sewing chores do you avoid?

10 comments:

amber said...

I will happily wind your bobbin if you could come over and finish blind hemming a skirt and dress I finished this weekend. :)

Ann said...

I used to hate winding the bobbin also. I would stop sewing for the day when the bobbin ran out. But since I got my present machine it is so quick and easy, even fun to wind the bobbin that I don't bat an eye. However..... tracing I hate. And turning tubes.

Venus de Hilo said...

Changing the thread and winding a bobbin on my new machine are so quick and easy they are no longer on my dreaded chore list. I don't mind blind hemming, or even hand-sewing, and I will grudgingly endure gathers when necessary. But oh, how I loathe the sewing on of a hook-and-eye (or snaps). It drives me to profanity every single time, and never, ever comes out neatly.

ChristineB said...

I hate cleaning up after myself when I'm done sewing (or when I've thrown in the towel for the day). But I'm getting better - it's just so much nicer to sew when the table isn't piled up with crap and reminders of the last wadder.

Ann - treat yourself to a Fasturn set for those tubes. I was using mine today to run elastic through the casing along the lower edge of a short sleeve on my daughter's shirt I had been searching in vain for a safety pin or my elastic threading doohickeys when i came across my Fasturn set. I had those strips of elastic through in half a minute, if that.

Beangirl said...

Oh how I hate to gather. I don't even like the WORD "gather". It annoys me. A lot.

Do you have a bobbin winder? Like a Side Winder? Just wondering if that would help or if you already have one and you still have bobbin anxiety. I know that's an annoying question (and yet I felt compelled to ask it anyway). I mean, I don't have a gathering foot, but I don't really believe that would alleviate my gathering anxiety and it would really irritate me if someone asked me if I had one.




my word verification is "floin". Which probably rhymes with "burgoyne" but when I first saw it I thought it probably was "flowin'"... like, if you had a Side Winder, your bobbin filling would be flowin' and you'd feel better.

Nancy K said...

I don't hate winding bobbins as much as you do, but almost since I wind bobbins for my bob n serge for the coverstitch, that's usually 2, and one for the sewing machine. I hate setting up and changing the thread on my serger, sewing machine and coverstitch. Now I have a machine for topstitching and one for buttonholes (vintage) so that's 2 more machines to set up. That's the job I hate the most.

BeckyMc said...

I have a demanding Pfaff, too. When the light comes on I just opent the little door to the bobbin and the light won't work with that door open. I sew until the thread is GONE, and that bobbin thread lasts longer than you might think.
I hate tracing patterns and making sure all the markings are transferred to the fabric

The Slapdash Sewist said...

Changing serger thread is high on my list of unfavorite chores. Altering patterns, too. Bobbin winding I don't mind--the Bernina has a good bobbin winder.

Barbara at Cat Fur Studio said...

Mrs. Pfaff -- LOL - I totally identify. My 'hate to do' sewing chore is trying stuff on during construction to see if it fits. Especially in winter!

Nancy Winningham said...

I hate making alterations - they are so time consuming! So... you'd think I'd use a lot more TNTs wouldn't you? Also, I must not like lining jackets. Right now I have two jackets that have been finished for over a year just waiting for their linings.